The Oregon Trail

At long last, here is the tale of two people, 3 states, 1 Buick, 1 baby, and 2 glowing parents.

On Monday, the 28th of November, we hopped on blue & red airplane at Midway airport in Chicago bound for sunny California (San Francisco, to be exact). I'm usually an iffy flyer (sometimes I'm calm as a clam, others.. my palms and feet get sweaty and tingly..usually brought about by extreme amounts of turbulence) but this flight went by smooth as can be. But maybe that was because I couldn't wait to get to the hospital to hug my sister and tell her how proud I was of her and of course, meet Baby G :)

Once we got our car rented (the Buick!), went through the paper work to get ourselves on the air base, and made our way through the MONSTER hospital (I've never been in or seen one so big.. EVER) we opened up a door and our hearts were snatched up from us faster than ever before. Geneva was perfect. In every way. Just like her mommy and daddy are perfect for each other. I, of course, cried. I'd never been so proud of anyone in my life as I was in that moment of my sister. 

The next few days were filled with countless cheek kisses, holding of tiny fingers, snuggling, and soaking up being an new aunty. Not too bad of gig, I tell ya what :)

After 5 days at my sister and brother-in-law's, we said our goodbyes/goodnights as we went to bed under their roof for the last time that trip. The goodbye part didn't hit me until we were well on our way the next morning. It occurred to me that the next time I saw Geneva, she would not be the tiny little thing I held in my arms on that trip. She will have grown to unrecognizable from her newborn self. It made me tear up. That's one thing I will never get used to with having a family member in the military. They can never be close enough.

Our route: Travis Air Force Base, CA to Seattle Washington,  Dec. 3rd - Dec. 6th, 2011

It was smooth sailing on the 5 for a couple of hours until we made it to our route to the coast. Take us off an interstate and the trip begins to feel like a trip :) That stretch of windy, curvy, mountainous road between Redding, CA and the coast of California was one of the best parts of our trip. We followed a stream up, down, and around through the mountains, sprinkled with weathered old men putting on their waders or carrying their fly fishing gear down to the waters edge. I bet we passed 50 people fly fishing in that stream over a 2 hour trek on that scenic bi-way. I've always wanted to learn to fly fish but never had a chance. Chris explained how fly fishing is an art. His grandpa taught him to do it at their pond when he was younger but he claims that it is a "patience" sport and patience, Chris does not usually have. But, inspired by the picturesque view of it on our trip, he said he would teach me. So hooray for my bucket list :)

We made it into Oregon with just enough daylight left to enjoy the beach behind the state visitors center. We met a very helpful older gentleman who gave us an abundance of literature on where to stop and what to see along our route. On the beach, couples strolled with their labs bounding in and out of the surf to fetch sticks of driftwood. It was perfect. Just seeing such a sight made me ridiculously happy. I was already in love with Oregon.

Once it was too dark to revel in the scenery, we stopped in a town called Bandon for some grub. We chose a steak and seafood joint after doing a slow drive by and seeing a lot of senior citizens chowing down. There's many things that the older generation has insight into, and one of those things is where to get some damn good dinner. It was the last stop on the trip that we ate anything other than seafood. We ordered a seafood platter appetizer (lightly battered clams, scallops, prawns, and Alaskan cod) and steaks for our entree.. Best seafood we had ever had up to that point in our lives was had there. Northwesterners have it made, I tell ya!

We drove a bit further upstate before we stopped for the night. We didn't go too far though as the whole point of the trip was the scenic drive. For our first afternoon in Oregon, we had no complaints. The next day was the most beautiful day of our roadtrip.. It was so great that it needs its own blog post.. haha

Tomorrow will bring on The Oregon Trail: part II